Tuesday December 30, 2008, 12:00 AM

Sure it's easy to use television or a video to distract the kids while trying to prepare dinner or fold that last bit of laundry. And, yes, videos such as Baby Einstein claim they'll make your little one smarter. But, for children under 2, that screen might be doing just the opposite.

"The truth of the matter is the best available scientific evidence shows that there is a real risk of harm," says Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute.

The controversy

About 40 percent of 3-month-olds watch television regularly, according to a report Christakis co-authored last year. As kids get older, the number watching television increases. Ninety percent of all 2-year-olds become regular viewers.

Parents rely on it, says Vicky Rideout, vice president and director of the program for the study of media and health at Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit think-tank based in Palo Alto, Calif. The foundation surveyed and conducted focus groups on television and children with parents in cities nationwide, including Columbus.

"Particularly with the really young babies, it gives the parents a chance to do something else on their own, whether it's to take a shower or cook a meal," Rideout says. "With the older kids, it's to get them to calm down, get ready for bedtime or separate squabbling kids."

"Electronic media and screens are a pervasive part of the human diet in today's world. It's important to have an awareness of the impact it might make on your children's life."

-- Dr. Ari Brown
Spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics and author of "Baby 411" and "Toddler 411"

Most parents are simply unaware that the American Academy of Pediatrics has a policy statement that "discourages" television watching for children under 2 years old, Rideout says. That same policy also recommends removing televisions from children's bedrooms and limiting screen time to less than two hours a day for kids 2 to 18 years old.

Susan McLain, vice president and general manager at The Baby Einstein Co., which markets videos, books and toys to babies up to 18 months and older, says the company respects the American Academy of Pediatrics' ability to make recommendations but thinks the organization's policy does not "reflect the reality or mind-set of today's parents, families and households."

"Baby Einstein products are designed to provide parents with simple tools they can use with their babies to inspire meaningful moments of discovery and interaction together, which is at the root of the AAP's recommendation," says McLain.

Indeed, studies have shown that watching educational programs such as Baby Einstein or Sesame Street -- especially with a parent or guardian -- can be helpful for children who are verbal or older than 2 years old. But there is much debate among researchers and doctors about how TV affects younger minds.

Growing minds

Pediatricians widely believe the first two years of a child's life are a critical time because the brain isn't fully developed at birth. A majority of brain development is completed in response to the child's environment during the first 18 or 24 months of life.

Time spent watching television takes away from activities such as playing, talking with caregivers and exploring the world around them, all of which have been proven to help development, says Dr. Donald Shifrin, past chair of the committee on communications at the American Academy of Pediatrics, which represents 63,000 pediatricians nationwide.

"Youngsters have better things to do with their time," he says.

Susan Connor, injury-prevention research manager at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, says that while there are products marketed to help babies, their minds just aren't ready for it.

"They don't gain anything," Connor says, adding that "if you watch a child watch TV, they kind of get into a little coma."

"A number of studies show that exposure to television at home is associated to slower language development, cognitive development and attention development," says Daniel R. Anderson, professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts. "One thing I want to make very clear, though, is that for children over age 2, they very clearly learn from educational programs. We're talking about an age difference.

"Once a child is 2 years old, the brain has matured and he or she knows how to control their attention as well as how to listen to language," he says.

Anderson, who has studied children and media since the 1970s and was part of the creation of shows such as "Dora the Explorer" and "Blues Clues," co-authored a study published in July showing that even if a television is merely on in the background with adult programming, it can "significantly reduce" play times for infants as well as focused attention during play.

Those research outcomes raise concerns about television's ability to cause attention problems as a child grows, he says.

Echoing that concern, Christakis says the fast sequencing and many screen changes in both adult and child programming could hinder a baby's developing brain and attention span. For instance, Baby Einstein videos change screens every three seconds.

"The concern I have is that over-stimulation at that early age will kind of precondition the mind to want a higher level of input than real life -- thus causing attention problems," pediatrics professor Christakis says.

When parents argue that television isn't all that bad, Christakis likens that belief to earlier generation's acceptance of smoking.

"People say that not everybody who smokes gets lung cancer, but it's a risk factor," he says. "As a society we have to shift our norms a bit."